Trevecca history professors awarded $1 million grant to teach students in prison

By Alayna Simons

Senior Reporter

Trevecca is now a part of a collaboration that received a $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to offer bachelor’s degrees in humanities and liberal arts to prison inmates in Tennessee.

Since last spring, Erica Hayden, professor of history, and Laura Hohman, associate professor of history, have been working on implementing humanities courses at a local prison to provide a better life after incarceration.

“Most incarcerated people will be released and they will go on with their lives and try to find jobs, reconnect with their families, and rebuild their lives,” said Hohman. “The goal is to rehabilitate, and if you can give people training so that they actually have opportunities when they get out, that significantly decreases the rate of reincarceration.”

This grant will be shared with Belmont University. Trevecca will offer history courses going towards humanities programs, while Belmont will offer a music program, according to Hayden.

According to The Treveccan, published in March 2024, Trevecca is partnering with the Tennessee Higher Education in Prison Initiative (THEI) to offer this program for the residents of the Turney Industrial Complex in Tennessee. Currently, the collaboration is limited to a men’s facility, but Hayden and Hohman hope to expand to a number of different incarcerated students across the state.

“A lot of times prison programs are more general degrees or business degrees, and so the Department of Corrections and THEI thought humanities would be something that students are interested in,” said Hayden.

In August of 2024, Hayden toured the prison to see their facilities and resources provided for education. Hoping to help modernize what the incarcerated had access to, Hayden was impressed to see that the prison already had a foundational library, classrooms, computer labs and space for faculty to come in person if needed.

While continuing to work full-time at Trevecca, Hayden and Hohman teach these courses themselves. Anyone with an associate’s degree can apply to take these courses provided.

“It’s exciting to be part of that now and knowing that they’ll come in with a great basis for their associate’s degree, and then we can really dive into what we’re experts in… history,” said Hayden.

Being at Trevecca for about a decade, Hayden and Hohman said that they have enjoyed working together, especially through this new opportunity, as they’ve been on the same page all the way through, and they owe their time at Trevecca for giving them the opportunity.

“I love that even though we stay put, we get all these new students that come through with different perspectives and we talk a lot in our classes about marginalized groups and about systems of justice and government,” said Hohman. “It will be a learning experience for us, to talk about those things to people who are living in the midst of them and we will be experiencing them at another level as our student body will change a bit.”

Looking ahead, Hayden and Hohman are working on course development through recording videos and additional research while they wait to figure out the logistics of sharing the grant with Belmont and waiting to hear back about the accreditation approval.

“It’s certainly daunting, but I think it’s a good opportunity and to really kind of live out what we should be doing as Christians and giving back to those who are marginalized,” said Hayden.

With challenges including seeking university approval through the accreditation board, working with non-traditional students, navigating the newness of teaching online classes, and security logistics within the prison, Hayden and Hohman are still in the process of figuring out next steps. 

Hayden and Hohman are excited to live out the mission of Trevecca and to extend a hand of opportunity through the university.

“It’s a good opportunity and it really fits with the mission of Trevecca to give back,” said Hayden. I’ve been interested in prison education for a while, and so when the opportunity arose, I was excited. I think it’s a really good thing for our university to be able to offer and give back to people who have been marginalized and set aside by society.”